My View of American Politics, Part 5: A Diagram

Here are parts one, two, three, and four. But this is the key point: instead of using the usual Left vs. Right political spectrum model, use this:

I’m not even close to being the only or the first person to think of using a different, non-spectral model. Cooper Zale at Lefty Parent had a very similar idea some years ago, only with different terminology–indeed, I am indebted to him for that post, as it helped set me thinking along these lines. There arelots of otheralternatives, as well. And of course, any model is ultimately an incomplete approximation. There will never be one that is perfect.

My point is simply that the “right vs. left” or “conservative vs. liberal” model is too simplistic, and not capable of actually predicting what people will do or explaining what they have done. Einstein once said: “The supreme goal of all theory is to make the irreducible basic elements as simple and as few as possible without having to surrender the adequate representation of a single datum of experience.” (Often paraphrased as “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler.”) The spectrum model of politics is more simple than possible.

They are very similar; yes. Nationalistic views tend to emphasize the importance of “soil”, and protecting “our” land. That’s why you have stuff like Sarah Palin saying that small towns and farms are the “real” America; implying that cities are not.